Bought reviews, surreptitious advertising: US authorities want stricter rules

Bought reviews, surreptitious advertising: US authorities want stricter rules

That the Internet is not a legal vacuum and you paid advertising Warner Bros. learned this firsthand in 2016: The company had a number of YouTubers and influencers, including PewDiePiepaid for positive coverage of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.

But because the YouTube star did not make the marketing campaign sufficiently recognizable as such, Warner Bros. was arrested by the American authority Federal Trade Commission, short FTC, warned. That authority is now becoming active again: they want to avoid such cases in the future and that’s why stricter guidelines introduce.


No more surreptitious advertising: VTubers will also have to answer for themselves in the future

Samuel Levine, leader of the FTCannounced in one press release: “We are updating the guidelines to crack down on fake reviews and other forms of misleading advertising, and we are warning advertisers about the use of surreptitious advertising aimed at children.”

“Whether it’s fake reviews or influencers hiding that they’ve been paid to post, this type of deception makes people pay more for poor products and services and hurts serious competitors.” Along with the announcement, some social media platforms were also warned that their remedies against such behavior were insufficient. This could potentially lead to lawsuits.

Reference-www.pcgames.de